African businesses can become far more competitive, but African governments and their international partners will need to improve access to finance, resist pressure to erect trade barriers, upgrade infrastructure, improve healthcare and educational systems, and strengthen institutions. This was contained in a release at the launch of a major new report, The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009, which reflects research efforts of three institutions - the World Economic Forum, the African Development Bank and the World Bank. The reports states that limited access to financial services remains a major obstacle for African enterprises, but underdeveloped infrastructure, limited healthcare and educational services, and poor institutional frameworks also make African countries less competitive in the global marketplace. The report also points to a number of success stories in the region that highlight steps countries can take to improve the business environment. The jointly produced report was released yesterday before the official opening of the World Economic Forum on Africa, from 10 to 12 June in Cape Town, South Africa. It is the second report on the region's business environment to leverage knowledge and expertise within the three organizations. The report also presents an integrated vision of the policy challenges African nations face as they build a foundation for sustainable growth and prosperity. The report highlights two short-term and three longer term policy themes for improving the competitiveness of African economies. The two short-term themes include increasing access to finance through market, enabling policies and keeping markets open "This year's Africa Competitiveness Report is the second comprehensive effort by our three organizations to place the continent in a broader international context and to shed light on the important aspects of development in the region, which are so critical, particularly at this time of global economic crisis," said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. "Investment in infrastructure with a regional focus would help cushion the impact of the crisis and position Africa to take advantage of the rebound of the global economy when it occurs," said Obiageli Katryn Ezekwesili, Vice-President of the Africa Region at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. "The countries that will reap the most benefit and limit the adverse impact of the crisis would be those that sustain reforms, strengthen governance, modernize local capital markets and make the investments needed to tap the immense resourcefulness and creativity of their people." "The most critical issue for us at this stage is how we strike the balance between short-term crisis response, while remaining focused on the long-term issues, key for sustaining Africa's growth, such as the development of infrastructure, and a skilled labour force, as well as economic integration," said Donald Kaberuka, President, of the African Development Bank. In addition to assessments of the competitiveness and costs of doing business on the continent, the report also includes an analysis of the depth and sophistication of the region's financial markets, the effective measures that the relatively smaller economies on the continent have introduced to promote their competitiveness and the extent to which African countries have put in place factors facilitating cross-border trade. Also included in the report are detailed competitiveness and investment climate profiles, providing a comprehensive summary of the drivers of competitiveness in each of the countries covered by the report. The Africa Competitiveness Report 2009 is an invaluable tool for policy-makers, business strategists and other key stakeholders, as well as essential reading for all those with an interest in the region. Source: Chronicle